Washington D.C., U.S., July 23, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Today, Dustin Van Liew testified on behalf of EnerGeo Alliance before the U.S. House of Representatives, highlighting the critical role that energy geoscience plays in contributing to resource evaluation: “By conducting surveys that image the subsurface below the ocean floor, geoscience surveys provide the information governments and policymakers need to make informed decisions in the best interest of their citizens regarding accessing and developing energy sources of all types, as well as developing low-carbon strategies.”
“Unfortunately, the permitting of this activity, critical to identifying the nation’s energy supplies, is too often stalled within regulatory agencies without accountable deadlines or timelines for review, or impeded by extreme environmental advocacy organizations exploiting existing regulatory and litigation processes,” he highlighted. To stimulate new geoscience activity and better inform the country’s energy policy, Van Liew recommended that policymakers prioritize “geoscience-driven energy policies and regulatory frameworks that remove uncertainty and delay, promote timely permitting decisions, and support a quick pace of return on investment.”
In his testimony on behalf of EnerGeo Alliance, Dustin Van Liew also pinpointed the necessity of modernizing the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA), Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) – particularly regarding the Incidental Take Regulation (ITR), and other relevant statutes to rectify the existing delays for geoscience survey authorizations: “In Alaska, unnecessary and unexplained delays in processing MMPA authorizations prevent planned geoscience surveys from providing the timely insight that would update resource estimates.”
Congressman Wesley Hunt’s CORE Act is a major step in the right direction, and EnerGeo confirmed its support for the draft bill, as it “will advance responsible and sustainable energy exploration and production, […] support the nation’s energy goals […] and remove onerous procedural roadblocks and litigious obstacles that hinder domestic energy security goals.”
Van Liew also provided comments on the proposed language for specific items, including eliminating “the arbitrary five-year limit on ITRs and instead allowing for the targeted amendment of ITRs, as necessary, to update mitigation measures or other findings, based on the best available scientific information. Eliminating the arbitrary five-year limit will also help to decrease opportunities for advocacy groups to challenge ITRs in misguided attempts to prevent U.S. energy development. […] For the same reasons, EnerGeo supports removing the existing GOM ITR expiration date of April 19, 2026. By prolonging the period of effectiveness, the geoscience and exploration industry can continue to make long-term plans for meaningful geoscience surveys that will inform forward-looking policies and help diversify energy sources.”
EnerGeo also welcomed the language to streamline the authorization process for survey operators after ITRs are issued: “[…] the current regulatory framework requires NMFS to jump through an additional procedural hoop and issue Letters of Authorizations (LOAs) to survey operators before they can move forward with the geoscience activities described and analyzed in their respective ITRs. Subsection 4(c) […] offers a more pragmatic and beneficial approach that both conserves agency resources and maintains the integrity of the substantive mitigation and monitoring requirements to remain in compliance with the MMPA and the Endangered Species Act.”
“We strongly support the proposed legislation, – concluded Dustin Van Liew – which will help to ensure more rigorous and comprehensive assessments of U.S. energy supplies and a more efficient and predictable process for permitting geoscience surveys. The energy geoscience and exploration industry stands ready to partner in the discovery and development of low carbon solutions and of energy dense, low emissions sources of energy to power the world. Streamlining the permitting process along with reducing the ability for outside special interest groups to obstruct energy geoscience exploration is a necessary step to ensure our continued development of energy resources and low-carbon solutions for future generations in the U.S.”
###
About EnerGeo Alliance
Founded in 1971, EnerGeo Alliance is a global trade alliance for the energy geoscience industry, the intersection where earth science and energy meet. The EnerGeo Alliance and its member companies span more than 50 countries, and together, unify to open the gateway to the safe discovery, development, and delivery of mainstay sources of energy, alternative energy and low-carbon energy solutions that meet our growing world’s needs.
